Noted for January 11, 2013
Cardiff Garcia #mintthecoin Special: The best version of the hypothetically least-bad last-ditch solution: "Greg Ip has the single best post on the economics and logistics of the Platinum Coin option that we’ve come across. It includes a solution that involves two of our favourite topics from 2012: the expiration of the Transacton Account Guarantee and the safe asset grab (even throwing in a bonus Gary Gorton reference)…. We continue to think that any option requiring unilateral executive action should be a last-minute, last-ditch solution in the event that negotiations have broken down, Congress has refused to raise the debt ceiling, and default really is imminent. Indeed we suspect that many of those arguing in the coin’s favour would still prefer a negotiated solution, though we’re less certain of this than we were just yesterday. But if we do get to that point and the administration deems that coin-minting is the least-bad of those executive workarounds, then Ip’s idea makes a lot of sense."
Bill Janeway: Private Venture Capital Didn't Build That
Laura Tyson: Inside America’s Tax Battle
Binyamin Applebaum on Tim Geithner's Legacy: Slow Response to Housing Crisis Now Weighs on Obama
Roy Edroso: SQUARE PEG: "Victor Davis Hanson goes on for more than 4,200 words about how everybody loves you if you're "hip" -- which in his lexicon is just another word for "liberal" -- and it's just not fair…. The odd thing is, Hanson never seems to grasp how these alleged hip people and things -- he includes Starbucks, Jay-Z, "Snoop Dogg," Al Gore, and Katie Couric, believe it or not -- acquired whatever cachet they have. Since he hates them, the explanation can include nothing of what they offer the public, which severely limits his options… [for any coherent] explanation would cost Hanson his opportunity for self-pity…"
Richard Grossman: Following Blind Ideology Right Off Cliff
Jonathan Chait: Debt Ceiling Hostage Enablers: "The House Republicans’ averred position of making the occasion of a debt ceiling hike into a high-stakes negotiation is a new and dangerous turn in American politics. Fortunately for them, it is not being treated as such. Consider recent columns by Ross Douthat, Ramesh Ponnuru, and Megan McArdle…. If the GOP were to receive signals that it is going beyond the pale and risking an extreme backlash among elites, these sort of writers would be the canary in the coal mine. Instead, they are sending the opposite message. Douthat and McArdle do disavow debt ceiling hostage-taking. But, in pox-on-both-houses, assert that the prospective response of minting platinum coins is just as bad…. For pure sophistry, it’s hard to outdo Ponnuru’s defense of hostage tactics on the debt ceiling."
Barry Eichengreen: Why No Glass-Steagall II?
Prarie Weather: Is it time to kill off Wall Street?: "Must read: John Cassidy's article on the worthlessness (yes, really!) of Wall Street. No this is not a joke."
